VIZIO has announced their new XVT 58” HDTV, the first ultra-widescreen HDTV to hit the US market, is now available for purchase. Sporting a 21:9 (2.33) aspect ratio that matches up nicely with the 2.35 AR used on most major films, the greatest benefit of the XVT is that you’ll no longer have to deal with black bars at the top and bottom of your HDTV when watching the latest widescreen content. How important you find such a feature will depend in a large part on how you use your HDTV, naturally, as broadcast 16:9 AR content will result in black bars on the left and right of the display. But there are other uses for such a wide screen, of course.

Besides being wider than normal display—the XVT sports a native 2560x1080 resolution—the new HDTV also includes other modern features like VIZIO’s Theater 3D functionality (four pairs of lightweight passive 3D glasses are included), SRS StudioSound HD, built-in WiFi, and smart TV technologies. That last item is perhaps the best example of what you might do with the added width when viewing 16:9 content, as VIZIO supports Internet Apps in a column on the left side of the screen that can be used for checking scores, tweeting, or other web-browsing activities—all while still watching HDTV.

In related news, Sigma Designs announced that many of the features of VIZIO's new CinemaWide display come via Sigma Designs' HiDTV Pro platform. VIZIO states that the HiDTV Pro “delivers outstanding picture quality and functionality”, and Sigma Designs returns the compliment stating, “We're thrilled that an industry leader like VIZIO is taking Sigma's HiDTV Pro platform to production.”

The VIZIO XVT3D580CM is currently available exclusively on VIZIO.com with a limited time pricing of $2499 (down from the initial $2799 target). I'd expect the displays to eventually show up on retail shelves, if you're willing to wait.

It's really quite simple. It's a lack of understanding of the difference between an aspect ratio and resolution. That shouldn't need further explanation since you seem to know the issues with fitting different aspect ratios onto a specific resolution.

What you ask for in your first paragraph is only possible with a different display for every single aspect ratio in existence. That's not very practical.Reply

I still fail to understand how desiring a device like this makes one "technically inept". I understand the tradeoff fully; I would much rather have a display tuned for Cinemascope-type video than one tuned for 16:9.Reply

I originally said *complaining about black bars* makes one technically inept, and that goes for complaining about black bars in general. 16:9 content on a 16:10 screen, 4:3 content on a 16:9 screen, 2.35:1 on a 16:9 screen and so on.

My point is there is nothing inherently wrong with black bars. What people who complain about them see is 'Well dernit, that there picture ain't fillin' up my screen.' Not all cinematic content will use this entire display anyway, and definitely not all video content. I guess your caveat here is that you said 'cinematic content' but...

Actual viewable image size is the final consideration. If one gets the correct screen size, showing 2.35:1 content on a 16:9 screen can have the same exact physical image size as this screen (assuming pixel size is the same). It is *not* a 58" 16:9 screen with more horizontal pixels added on to the sides....that imaginary 16:9 screen would measure smaller than 58". Thus, all one needs to have the same physical viewing size as this 58" 2.35:1 is a larger 16:9 screen. Yes, it would have black bars when viewing some content, that is unavoidable with all the different aspect ratios out there, but it will then be suitable for a much wider range of content as well.

In summary, there is nothing objectively wrong with black bars, it's all just perception. Once one understands the interaction between aspect ratio, resolution, and diagonal size/physical image size this should be clear.Reply

Of course their 58" version comes at 5k€, so VIZIO definitly has the better offer at that size. Personally I have been playing with the thought of spending the 1.5k€ on the 50" version for about a year now. Now if just somebody could go and test for meif these things are fast enough to play games on them ...Reply

... you're scaling aren't you? Isn't scaling bad on a LCD/LED LCD panel? I mean, every time I've seen scaling on an LCD whether it was bad one, a good one, a great one, or an out of this world one, it's always looked worse.

I get that when the black bars are up on each side, the whole thing will scale perfectly (1920x1080 will be pixel perfect), but when you're actually using this thing for its intended purpose, you'll get scaling because the movie'll be at something less than 1920x1080 and be upscaled to 2560x1080.

That just seems odd.

On the plus side, with that much horizontal width, you could start moving a computer's UI to the right and left and reclaim all your vertical real estate. If you wanted. And you had an OS where that wasn't fugly.Reply